1. Field of the Invention
With regard to the classification of art, this invention is believed to be found in the general class entitled Material or Article Handling and more particularly to those subclasses pertaining to clamping a frame of a removable mixing or blending chamber that rotates relative to a support.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Lifting apparatus for holding and lifting a frame of a removable blending chamber bin, or container are known in the prior art. One known example of the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,207 that issued to the present inventor on May 14, 1996 and is solely owned by him. This prior art method and apparatus associated therewith have been very successful in industry. However, in some material handling or blending situations, it has been determined that there is a need for improvement to the equipment and process disclosed in that prior art patent. It has been found that there is a need to more accurately locate and hold the blending bin with respect to the lifting apparatus during all phases of the blending operation. This desired and newly identified need requires that the blending container or bin be accurately and consistently placed and retained on the lifting apparatus during all phases of the process. This desired need will reduce the need for manual adjustments thereof and thereby ultimately increasing efficiency and productivity.
The present invention solves the above identified need by including at least one clamping means that is arrayed for accurately positioning and retaining like support frames of removable blending bins or containers on a pair of forks of the material handling apparatus.
In one example, the present invention is selectively actuable by an operator for engaging a support frame of an article to be lifted and includes a biasing means for retention of a frame of that article.
In an alternate example the present invention is selectively actuable simultaneously with the rotation of at least one of a pair of non-circular forks. However the present invention also allows for the independent actuation of the clamping means and the rotation of the fork members.
The blending bin or container is removable from the lifting apparatus and is adapted for accurate placement and retention thereon. This allows for alignment of similarly configured articles to be accurately positioned over a supply port of a processing or forming machine.